More than fifteen years after the BBC series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries ended, BritBox International, Wolf Hall producer Playground and Salt Films are developing Lynley, a new version written by Sherlock writer Steve Thompson and directed by Ed Bazalgette.
Leo Suter (pictured, left) and Sofia Barclay (pictured, right) direct the adaptation, playing DI Thomas Lynley and DS Barbara Havers, an aristocratic police detective and eccentric working-class sergeant. Together, the misfit duo make a formidable team, united by their desire to see justice done, as the series tackles issues of identity, gender and class.
BBC Studios is short on funding and sales, and sources have learned that the terms of the deal with BritBox are still being worked out. Cameras are set to roll in Ireland in a few weeks for four 90-minute episodes, with the hope of a mid-2025 airing date.
American author George, who is executive producing the new version, has written a number of novels, most of which feature Lynley and Havers and are set in the UK. Her most recent, Something to Hide, was published two years ago.
Sources have learned that the new adaptation will be different from the previous BBC series, starring Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small, which aired for six seasons from 2002 to 2007. The series was well-reviewed and a petition was started to save the show when it was cancelled. The series is currently available on BritBox in the US and other markets.
BritBox, the streamer for the best of British culture, has been increasingly pushing into the commissioning and co-commissioning space of late, working with British networks on shows such as Murder Is Easy, Towards Zero and Passenger. New CEO Robert Schildhouse recently said that the streamer is operating "autonomously" and free from "creative pressure" from the BBC since it was fully acquired by BBC Studios earlier this year.
Colin Callender’s Playground is currently working on Masterpiece and BBC’s Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light, Hilary Mantel’s long-awaited sequel starring Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis and Jonathan Pryce, which chronicles the final years of Thomas Cromwell’s life. The New York and London-based company is also producing Channel 5’s All Creatures Great and Small (2020), Sky’s Small Town, Big Story and BBC’s The Missing.
Callender and Playground’s David Stern are producing Lynley alongside Thompson, George and Suzanne McAuley, who is also acting as series producer through her Ireland-based Salt Films.